1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a navigation apparatus, a method and a program for updating facility information and a recording medium storing the program.
2. Description of Related Art
Navigation apparatus for supporting the user driving a motor vehicle by providing guidance for the moving vehicle until the vehicle gets to the destination have been developed in recent years and are well known at present. Such a navigation apparatus automatically retrieves information on the destination facilities of the driver and the passengers of the vehicle, which may include a store, a public facility, a facility at a scenic spot or a spot of historic interest and/or a facility at a tourism spot, as part of map information when cue information on the destination facilities is selected and input to the navigation apparatus. As one of the retrieved facilities is selected, the route of movement of the vehicle from the current position to the destination, which is the selected facility, is defined on the basis of the road information contained in the map information. As the vehicle is driven to move along the defined route of movement, the driver is guided by voice and display so as to move along the defined route depending on the moving condition of the vehicle.
With conventional navigation apparatus, map information is typically stored on a recording medium such as CD-ROM (compact disk-read only memory) or DVD-ROM (digital versatile disk-read only memory). The stored map information is read and retrieved by means of a memory disk drive. Then, the retrieved information is processed for use. Meanwhile, stores and facilities at tourist spots can be moved frequently. Therefore, for the driver to utilize map information for the purpose of driving the vehicle by retrieving information on the destination facilities and the routes of movement to be followed in order to get to them, the map information should be updated to accommodate the positional changes of facilities that have taken place in order for the driver to effectively search and retrieve necessary information. Therefore, recording mediums storing updated map information are marketed every year.
However, with the conventional practice of providing updated recording mediums every year, the user needs to buy a new recording medium and the cost of buying such a new recording medium every year will be costly to the user.